fav apps & why

[Rae Michelle]

Was just wondering what everyone's fav apps (not rooted) are & why? Just trying to get the most out of my bionic thx

 

[gwhizkids]

Pretty much any of the native Google apps (gMail, Calendar, G+, etc...) for their tight integration with Android. Also like the new Weather Channel app.

 

[doogald]

Just a few favorites:

Plume or Falcon Pro for twitter. Both do twitter better than the native app for me; namely, they save your spot on the timeline between uses, so you can scroll up from where you left off, rather than down from now to where you last read. That just seems stupidly backwards to me. Both apps also support tweetmarker, which is a free third-party service to synchronize your spot in the timeline between devices, so I can also view twitter with tweetmarker apps on my Mac or my tablet. The major issue with Falcon Pro is that twitter limits the number of individual users of each third-party app, and Falcon Pro hit that limit a few weeks ago. The developer figured out a way to reset the count to lock out people who had downloaded pirated copies of his app, but you may or may not be able to get a user token now. Plume is free to try, though I recommend the pro update to drop the ads if you are going to keep it.

SMS Backup+. For every sms or mms message sent or received, this app creates a message in a conversation on my GMail account, in a GMail label of your choice, marked read so it does not clutter your inbox. In addition, it can do the same for your call log, as well as create a calendar entry in a calendar of your choice on Google Calendar. Just an incredibly handy app to have. (You can also restore SMS messages and the call log after a factory reset, if this is something that you really want or need to have in the SMS app.)

Quick Event. Let's you add a calendar item using natural language (i.e., Lunch with John at Acme Restaurant Wednesday at noon). I find that easier than fiddling with the calendar app

Speaking of the calendar app, Business Calendar is a much better calendar app than the stock app.

If you use Dropbox, DropSync will synchronize files and folder of your choice on your phone's external storage with a Dropbox folder. It also has special handling for photos, automatically uploading them when taken (though it can also be set to wait until you have WiFi in order to save on data charges). The syncs can be two-way or one-way, so files can be uploaded only, or if you change them on Dropbox, the changes will be re-downloaded. It's a good add-on to the Dropbox app.

Of course, I have a lot of other apps, but these are a few notables that I use daily. None of these require root.

 

[SithLord0498]

PRODUCTIVITY

CHROME - Makes web surfing smooth, effortless. Bookmarks are easily synced between all three of my devices (Bionic, Nexus 7 tablet, and desktop computer)

DROPBOX - Best cloud storage app I've found yet. Simple, effective, easy-to-use interface. Makes editing and accessing documents an absolute breeze between my devices. My wife uses my account credentials on her laptop and Incredible 4G, so it's become our family's universal cloud storage.

EVERNOTE - Great cloud-based note-taking app. Again, love the synchronization across devices. Use this most for grocery shopping checklists.

GMAIL - Nuff said.

GOOGLE CALENDAR - Latest version allows for reliable syncing with Google's cloud servers, allowing calendar to always stay up-to-date. Widget sometimes takes a few minutes to reflect changes, but it's reliable overall.

QUICKOFFICE PRO (approx. $14.99) - While obviously not as fully featured as the official Microsoft Office suite, this is a more than capable Android alternative that can read/create files ranging from Office 97/2003 through 2010.

QUICKPIC - Best photo gallery app I've come across so far.


NEWS AND READING

AMAZON KINDLE - Kindle services without having to pay for a Kindle? No brainer right there!

POCKET - Fantastic app for saving articles for offline reading. UI is intuitive and easy on the eyes.

PRESS - More elegant and cleaner interface than stock Google Reader


ENTERTAINMENT

GOOGLE PLAY MUSIC - Didn't really care for it when it first launched, but Google has really streamlined this program. Works great when I want to access music I don't listen to often enough to waste SD card storage space on them. Only drawbacks are there's no way to view music by file folders and you can select "All Music (Cloud and Local Storage)" or "Local Storage Only" but there's no option to only view "Cloud Storage" (so that means I have to tag my Google cloud albums differently so I can recognize which music ISN'T on my phone.

JEWELS PRO - Best generic version of Bejeweled out there. Great time-killer!

SONGZA - Music Concierge service is extremely innovative and does a better job exposing users to new and different music than Pandora does (also has a lockscreen widget, which Pandora lacks)

SOUNDHOUND - Very reliable song ID service. Worth the couple dollars it costs to buy.


SHOPPING

AMAZON - While lacking in some features, this is a great mobile version of Amazon.com and allows for easy browsing, purchasing.

AMAZON MP3 - Simple UI allows easy browsing and purchasing of music from Amazon's MP3 store. The only thing I wish they would fix is, if you tilt your phone and cause the screen to shift to landscape or portrait, then playback of samples stops.

BEST BUY - Latest update brought a complete redesign of app, which works equally well as an online shopping tool and an in-store resource (e.g. scanning barcodes to access reviews, local store inventory, etc.)